Appearing to ignore his friends John drove rapidly around the circle which had been laid out between the station and the main street. Proudly returning to the place on the platform where his friends were awaiting his coming, he called out, “How’s this car? How’s the driver? Pretty slick, eh?”

“What we don’t know,” said George quickly, “is where the driver came from and how he got the car.”

“You’ll have to trust your Uncle John for some things,” replied the driver solemnly. “There are some things you can’t explain and some things it’s hard for certain people to understand. You see that your car’s here, don’t you?”

“Yes,” replied George.

“It’s all right, isn’t it?”

“As far as I can see.”

“Cylinders all sound? Tires all complete? Boiler intact? Carbureter still working? Limousine all ready to be carved?”

“That’s right,” said George, laughing as he spoke. “As far as I can see everything is all straight except the fact that you didn’t tell us how you got the car and beat us back here.”

“Get in, fellows, and I’ll tell you about it on the way back,” said John. “I’ll resign my position as chauffeur too,” he added, as he quickly moved to another seat.

“I don’t mind; stay where you are,” said George cordially.

“No, I know you don’t ‘mind,’ but this is a hot day. I would rather sit behind and tell you how to do it.”

“All right then, I’ll go ahead,” said George, as he started the car. “Tell us how you did it.”

“I have already explained to the best of my ability,” said John soberly.

“Tell us again, then,” broke in Fred.

“Why, all there is to it is that after you fellows left I looked around for the car and found it.”

“Did you find it alone?”

“What do you mean,—was I the only one that found it, or do you mean that I found the car all by itself?”

“My, how correct some fellows are in their talk,” murmured Fred. “Yes, what I mean was were you all alone when you found the car?”

“No.”

“Well, why don’t you tell us who was with you?” demanded Grant irritably.

“The tramp,” said John abruptly.

“The tramp!” repeated the boys together.

“That’s what I said.”

“Tell us about it,” said George.

“Why, after you fellows cleared out and left me behind, for you remember that you took all the tickets there were and left me up there sans money, sans ticket, sans everything, as Shakespeare says—”

“We don’t remember anything of the kind,” interrupted George. “We tried to get you to come along.”

“Yes, you did!” laughed John scornfully. “You tried hard. You had just money enough to buy three tickets and I was generous enough to say that I would let you three fellows use them—”

“Go on with your story about the tramp,” interrupted Fred.

“Well, I’ll tell you the truth,” said John.

“Hope it won’t make you too tired,” murmured Fred.

“I’m telling you the truth,” said John, glaring at his diminutive companion as he spoke. “The train hadn’t fairly gotten out of sight with you fellows on board before up comes the tramp, driving this car. He came right up to the platform of the station and invited me to get on board. You may be sure I didn’t stand on the form, or likewise on the platform, very long.”

“Where did he get it?” demanded George.

“He suspected what had happened,” explained John, “and he said he went to another garage, hoping that there had been some mistake. He said there were two cars in trouble out there on the road, one besides ours. The men that came out from the shop made a mistake and I guess each car was taken to the wrong garage.”

“That’s a pretty good story,” laughed George.

“Well, it’s all right,” declared John warmly. “Here’s your car anyway. The tramp brought it, just as I’m telling you, and you haven’t anything to say about it.”

“Maybe the tramp took the car and got scared when he saw us start off. Probably he thought we were going for help.”

“Probably nothing!” exclaimed John disgustedly. “I tell you that tramp is all right. He can speak the English language and he has got some brains. I asked him to-day what he was tramping around the country for and he said he didn’t know.”

“He must have a lot of brains,” ejaculated Fred.

“He knows how to drive a car all right,” said John. “He drove all the way home.”

“Where is he now?” demanded George.

“I don’t know. He wouldn’t stay. By the way, he did suggest before he departed that if there was any reward connected with the finding of the car he wouldn’t mind taking it.”

“Probably he wouldn’t,” laughed Fred.

“I think he is entitled to something,” said George, “and I’ll tell my father about it the first time he comes out.”

“Where did the tramp go?”

“He didn’t tell me,” explained John, “but I think he went over to the old Meeker House. He said that if we wanted to see something worth while and something that would beat anything we had ever experienced in the old Meeker House we had better come over there after dinner.”

“To-night?” inquired Fred.

“Yes, to-night.”

“I say we go,” said Grant quickly.

“So say we all,” added George.

In a brief time the car was running swiftly up the driveway of the yard and as soon as his companions alighted George took it to the garage.

The other missing car, however, had not been returned nor had any word been received concerning it during the absence of the boys.

A call on the telephone speedily demanded George’s attention and as soon as he rejoined his friends he said, “I have been talking to my father.”

“You mean your father has been talking to you,” suggested Fred.

Ignoring the interruption, George continued, “My father says that he has word of a car that is being held in Morristown. In some ways it answers the description of ours. He thinks it will be a good thing for us to go there to-morrow and find out more about it.”

“Good plan. Good scheme,” said Fred sympathetically. “Did your father say anything about suitably rewarding the tramp for his return of the car which he probably had all the while?”

“He did,” said George simply. “He told me to give him a ten dollar bill.”

“That’s all right,” said Fred eagerly. “Now I think it will be a good thing for each of us to take his turn, too,” he added. “Every one of us can take that car off and hide it over night and get ten dollars reward when he brings it back in the morning. That’s all your friend Mr. Tramp did.”

“That’s no such thing!” spoke up John, quick to defend his recent acquaintance.

“You may have it your own way,” laughed Fred. “Then we’re to go over and call on him to-night at the old Meeker House, are we?”

“That’s just what we are going to do,” said John.

True to the suggestion, soon after sunset the Go Ahead boys rode to the mysterious house. When they left their car by the roadside and started across the intervening field it was plain that there was an air of greater confidence now manifest by all four boys than in any previous visit.

The moon already had risen and in its clear light the old apple trees and the poplars that lined the driveway appeared like aged sentinels, twisted and gnarled. Indeed, some of the objects assumed fantastic forms and as the boys advanced, a silence not unlike that which had rested upon them in their former visits now fell over the party.

“I’ll tell you one thing,” spoke up Fred in a loud whisper; “I’m going with George around to the kitchen this trip.”

“I haven’t invited you,” replied George promptly.

“It doesn’t make any difference whether you have or not, I’m going just the same,” said Fred.

“Then I shall have to put up with it,” responded George in mock resignation. “All I can say to the rest of you is that whatever you do don’t run. Let’s find out what this thing means this time. Do you agree?”

“Yes, we agree,” replied his friends.

“Good,” responded George. “Now don’t forget.”

The boys at once separated, George and Fred moving around to the rear of the house while John and Grant approached the front door, which already was a familiar sight.

Without waiting for their companions to enter they at once pushed open the door, which creaked on its rusty hinges, producing sounds not unlike the cry of a child in distress.

Inside the room there again was the sound of many rushing wings. Indeed, for a moment, to the boys, who were startled in spite of their determination to be calm, the room seemed to be filled with flying creatures. Weird sounds also were heard and low spoken cries that were not unlike the creaking of the hinges of the old door.

In spite of their recently expressed courage both boys stopped as if by common consent. As they did so the sound of voices, speaking in whispers, was heard from other parts of the house. No person, however, was visible and in the dim light that penetrated the room neither of the boys was able to see any object distinctly.

Meanwhile the flapping of the unseen wings continued. Suddenly there was a flash of light that was almost blinding. It was so unexpected that both boys together and almost instantly turned toward the door. A cloud of smoke swept through the room and both boys, coughing and choking, instantly turned and fled from the house. Their speed increased as there came sounds of loud laughter from within the ancient dwelling. Unmindful of their promise not to run, both boys instantly turned and quickly were making most excellent time across the field in the direction of the automobile, which still could be seen in the open road.